It was close until it wasn’t.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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CBJ GOALS: |
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Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 899 as the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Friday night at Nationwide Arena.
John Carlson, Justin Sourdif, Tom Wilson, and Connor McMichael scored for Washington. Logan Thompson made 34 saves.
Denton Mateychuk scored for Columbus. Jet Greaves made 25 saves. The Capitals remain perfect on the road (3-0-0). The Capitals are 12-3-1 in their last 16 against Columbus and have won seven of eight at Nationwide Arena.
Erik Gudbranson made his Nationwide Arena debut in his return to the lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury.
Here's how this one went down in Columbus:
1st Period:
There was no scoring but lots of action in a fast-paced first period. Columbus was 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and had a late first-period power play that spilled mostly into the second period.
Shots were 12 apiece.
2nd Period:
(18:19 — WSH Goal): Each power play had chances, and pipes were rung, but it wasn’t until Carlson scored to give Washington the 1-0 lead toward the latter part of the second period. The goal extends Carlson's five-game point streak (two goals, three assists). McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre assisted on the goal.
John Carlson
— Capitals Brasil (@WCapitalsBrasil) October 25, 2025
McMichael, Lapierre
pic.twitter.com/YglMDhvDwF
Washington scored one goal on two shots in the second period as they were outshot 9-2 in the middle frame.
3rd Period:
(1:36 — WSH Goal): The Capitals extended the lead to 2-0 when Ovechkin scored his second of the season (Assist: Dylan Strome).
GOAL NUMBER 899 FOR ALEX OVECHKIN! pic.twitter.com/yq9b7RBVrD
— NHL (@NHL) October 25, 2025
Alex Ovechkin scored his 336th career third-period goal tonight against Columbus and tied Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) October 25, 2025
(2:40 — WSH Goal): Sourdif scored his first of the season to put Washington ahead 3-0. It was a total of three goals in 4:21, going back to Carlson's second-period marker.
#ALLCAPS GOAL: SOURDIF GETS HIS FIRST AS A CAPITAL pic.twitter.com/eLLoBCVi9l
— Capitals Replays (@CapitalsReplays) October 25, 2025
(10:20 — CBJ Goal): Mateychuk scored his second goal in as many games to break the Thompson shutout and get Columbus back in it (Assists: Sean Monahan, Dmitri Voronkov).
NOT DONE YET!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 25, 2025
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/Y9LYbJVa96
Voronkov nearly had his second point of the game, but the goal was taken off the board due to a kicking motion. He actually knocked it in with his back heel. Impressive looking, but the non-goal was the right call.
Voronkov scores, the goal is under review for a kick #CBJ #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/l1uj7exweL
— Capitals Replays (@CapitalsReplays) October 25, 2025
At 12:35, Mathieu Olivier was assessed a five-minute major for elbowing Declan Chisholm.
Mathieu Olivier receives a 5 minute major for a hit to the head of Declan Chisholm pic.twitter.com/peeJ7xsy2k
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 25, 2025
(15:39 — WSH Goal): Wilson's fifth on the power play made it 4-1 Capitals. He's on a five-game point streak (four goals, five assists) and leads the Capitals with 11 points.
Tom Wilson leads the team in points (11) and power play goals (3)#ALLCAPS | @aerovironment pic.twitter.com/pJwAxnKuIv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2025
The Capitals have scored first in five of their eight games this season and are 5-0-0 when scoring first.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) October 25, 2025
(16:37 — WSH Goal): McMichael scored his first of the season on the same power play to add further salt in the wound and make it 5-1.
WSH, 5-1. Connor McMichael PPG (1)
— Joseph (@HockeyJoseph10) October 25, 2025
Deflects the pass from Alex Ovechkin and bats the puck off his rebound and beats Greaves
2/4 on 9 shots#ALLCAPS: 5#CBJ: 1 pic.twitter.com/U5jjdkb8Ue https://t.co/nY6absMFFw
The score suggested this game was a blowout, but it was a tight game into the third period, and until the Olivier penalty, which head coach Dean Evason thoroughly disagreed with, had interesting postgame comments.
"That's not a 5-1 hockey game. It was such a great game. It really was. We come in after the first period, and we're just like, 'man, this is fast, it's great. Guys are playing hard. Just stay out of the bloody thing. Let the players figure it out.'
"And they're not allowed to do that. Because of what happened. It's frustrating as hell."
The Capitals are 5-0-0 when leading after two periods. Columbus fell to 0-3-0 when trailing after two periods. Washington is 3-0-0 against the Metropolitan Division, with each win coming on the road.
| WSH | GAME STATS | CBJ |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | SHOTS | 35 |
| 51.1% | FACEOFFS | 48.9% |
| 2/5 | POWER PLAY | 0/3 |
| 3/3 | PENALTY KILL | 3/5 |
| 23 | HITS | 25 |
| 18 | GIVEAWAYS | 12 |
| 3 | TAKEAWAYS | 4 |
| 11 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 7 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 4.7 | EXPECTED GOALS | 4.48 |
| 53 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 66 |
| 35 | SCORING CHANCES | 37 |
| 16 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 17 |
| Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
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Thompson improved to 5-1-0 on the year and has allowed two or fewer goals in each start.
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Washington has scored first in five of eight games and is 5-0-0 when scoring first.
- Greaves fell to 1-3-0 on the year but has a .903 save percentage and 2.79 goals against average. The five goals against break a string of three consecutive games allowing two goals. The five goals allowed are the most he's yielded since April 13, 2024, in Nashville (six).
Up Next:
Columbus will play their first back-to-back of the season when they head to PPG Paints Arena to play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7 pm.
